In general, a consecutive acupuncture device is an acupuncture device that can consecutively insert needles into the human body. One example of the technology associated with this consecutive acupuncture device is a “consecutive acupuncture device” disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0585844 filed by the applicant of the present invention.
In claim 1 of Korean Patent No. 10-0585844, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the consecutive acupuncture device, which can consecutively insert needles, comprises a cartridge 1 in which one or more needles are stored, a first magnet 4 that is located on one side of the cartridge 1 and causes the stored needle to be attracted and automatically disposed to an acupuncture point by magnetic force, a striking means that is located on an upper side of the cartridge 1 and strikes the needle previously located at the acupuncture point so as to insert the needle into the acupuncture point, and a discharging section 30 that is located on a lower side of the cartridge 1 and is provided with a hole through which the needle is discharged. The striking means includes a button 23 that is installed on the upper side of the cartridge 1 so as to be elastically biased upwards by a return spring 22, a hammer 26 that is installed in the button 23 so as to be elastically biased downwards by a striking spring 25, a hammer nose that is provided with an ascending slope on one side of the hammer 26, a compression step that is formed on a lower side of the hammer nose such that the hammer nose is caught in such a manner as to compress the striking spring 25 to a predetermined position when the button 23 is pushed, and a release step that is formed on an upper side of the hammer nose such that the slope of the hammer nose is pressed to cause the hammer nose to be separated from the compression step when the striking spring 25 is compressed up to or past a predetermined length.
Meanwhile, the cartridge of the consecutive acupuncture device is mounted on the consecutive acupuncture device, has a structure in which the needles 10 can be sequentially loaded at the position where a hammer plunger 6 of the consecutive acupuncture device strikes the needle (see FIG. 3).
In detail, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the needles 10 stored in the cartridge 1 are attracted to and loaded at the striking position of the hammer plunger 6 through a charge slot by the magnet 4 installed in the consecutive acupuncture device. The second magnet 5 can prevent the needles from falling due to gravity. As the hammer plunger 6 strikes an upper end of the needle 10, the needle 10 is instantaneously discharged in a downward direction, and thereby is inserted into an affected part of the human body. When the hammer plunger 6 returns to its original position, another waiting needle is loaded at the striking position by the first magnet 4.
In this manner, in order to smoothly position the needles 10 stored in the cartridge 1 in the charge slot, the needles 10 stored in the cartridge 1 must be arranged in an upwardly attracted state by the second magnet 5.
However, since the needles 10 stored in the cartridge 1 are instantaneously attracted and attached toward the charge slot by the first magnet 4, which is located on a sidewall of the consecutive acupuncture device, from the moment when the cartridge 1 is coupled to the consecutive acupuncture device, the consecutive acupuncture device undergoes malfunction in such a manner that the needles 10 fail to be attracted upwards through the second magnet 5, are not smoothly pushed into the charge slot, and are thus caught at an entrance of the charge slot.
Further, when the hammer plunger 6 does not completely strike the needle 10 loaded at the striking position and then returns to its original position due to the carelessness of a user, one point P1 of the upper end of the needle 10 pushed in a downward direction from the striking position serves as a fulcrum, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. Thus, the needles 10 arranged in turn in the charge slot are inclined to the right of FIG. 4 at the upper ends thereof, and to the left of FIG. 4 at the lower ends thereof. As a result, when the inclined next needle 10 is struck when inserted, the next needle 10 is not discharged, i.e. causing the malfunction to take place.
Moreover, when the hammer plunger 6 attempts to strike the needle in the aforementioned state, the needle 10 is caught by the catch step of the charge slot, and thus is abnormally inserted. Thus, the cartridge 1 is pushed in a downward direction, and then is separated from the consecutive acupuncture device.
Further, the cartridge 1 becomes loose owing to the process of repetitive coupling with and decoupling from the consecutive acupuncture device. In certain cases, the cartridge 1 becomes separated from the consecutive acupuncture device.
Meanwhile, the cartridge of the consecutive acupuncture device (hereinafter, collectively referred to as “cartridge”) mounted on the aforementioned consecutive acupuncture device is configured such that the needles can be sequentially loaded at the striking position at which the hammer plunger of the consecutive acupuncture device strikes each needle.
Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the needles 10 stored in the cartridge 1 are sequentially attracted to and loaded at the striking position of the hammer plunger 6 by the magnetic force of the first magnet 4 installed on the consecutive acupuncture device. When being so loaded, each needle 10 is prevented from falling in the gravitational direction by the magnetic force of the second magnet 5.
Each of the needles 10, which are sequentially loaded at the striking position of the hammer plunger 6, is instantaneously discharged in a downward direction when the hammer plunger 6 strikes the upper end of each needle, and thereby is inserted into the acupuncture point.
At this time, when the hamster plunger 6 strikes each needle 10 at the striking position and thus discharges the needle 10 in a downward direction, there is a problem in that another neighboring needle 10 moves downwards along with the discharged needle.
The needles 10 stored in the cartridge 10 are severely fluctuated from one end to the other end of the interior of the cartridge by vibration of the consecutive acupuncture device. Accordingly, some of the needles 10 are not arranged in parallel respective to the entrance of the charge slot, and are inclined to one side as in FIG. 12. Some of these inclined needles 10 block the entrance to the charge slot, and thus other needles 10 cannot enter the charge slot.
Meanwhile, the needles 10 stored in the cartridge 10 are fed along the charge slot in the state which they are attracted upwards by the magnetic force of the second magnet located above. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the upwardly attracted needles 10 deviate from their original positions in a downward direction, and thus smoothly enter into the charge slot, due to vibration caused by external impact and frequent variation in acupuncture angle while the needles 10 are applied using the consecutive acupuncture device.
Further, as illustrated in FIG. 6, when the hammer plunger 6 strikes the loaded needle 10 and then completely returns to its original position, one point P2 of the lower end of the hammer plunger 6 instantaneously serves as a fulcrum. Thus, the needles 10, which are sequentially arranged in the charge slot, are inclined to the left side at the upper ends thereof, and to the right side at the lower ends thereof, as illustrated in FIG. 6.
When the upper ends of the needles 10 are inclined to the left side as illustrated in FIG. 6, the needles 10, which are sequentially arranged in the charge slot, are pushed in the direction of the arrow as viewed from the right side of FIG. 7, and thus the uppermost needle 10a is pushed toward a needle storage space at an upper end thereof, as illustrated in FIG. 6. Both needles 10b and 10c located on opposite sides of the charge slot try to enter into the charge slot under the influence of the magnetic force. This results in the malfunction that the uppermost needle 10a and both needles 10b and 10c are mutually crossed and twisted in a “X” shape, and thus the entrance to the charge slot becomes blocked.